Purpose
The purpose of the Father and Daughter Y- Princess Program
is to foster the understanding and companionship of father and daughter.
Pledge
"We, Father and Daugher, through friendly service to
each other, to our family, to this tribe, to our communicty, seek
a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spirit."
Slogan
"Friends Always"
Six
Aims
To love the sacred circle of my family.
To be clean in body and pure in heart.
To share understanding with my father/daughter.
To listen while others speak.
To love my neighbor as myself.
To seek and preserve the beauty of the Great Spirit's work in forest
field and stream.
Closing
Prayer
And now
may the Great Spirit
of all good spirits
be with you
now
and forever more.
Y
Princess Headband
The central theme of the headband is the sign of the eye
of the Great Spirit with the crossed arrows of friendship on the
left side and the circled heart of love on the right side. The symbols
for father and daughter are next to the grouped tepees, which indicate
happy work in the community, and a single tepee, which denotes happy
work in the home. The trees, water, and grass exhort the wearer
to see and preserve the Great Spirit's beauty in forest, field and
stream.
History
& Heritage
The Ymca Parent-Child Program was developed to support the parent's
vital family role as teacher, counselor, and friend to their children.
The program was initiated by Harold S. Keltner (St. Louis YMCA Director)
in 1926 as an integral part of Association work. He organized the
first
Y-Indian Guide tribe in Richmond Heights, Missouri, with the help
of his good friend, Joe Friday, an Ojibway , and William H. Hefelfinger,
Chief of the first Y-Indian Guide tribe.
Inspired by his experiences with Joe Friday, who was his guide
on fishing and hunting trips into Canada, Harold Keltner initiated
a program of parent-child experiences that now involves over a million
children and adults annually in the YMCA.
While Keltnter was on a fishing trip in Canada, one evening, Joe
Friday said to his white colleague as they relaxed around a campfire:
"Among our people, the FATHER raises his son. He teaches him
to hunt, to track, to fish, to walk softly and silently in the forest,
to know the meaning and purpose of life and all he must know...".
This insight into Native American culture inspired Keltner to develop
the program that would become the Indian Guides.
Joe Friday spoke before groups of YMCA boys and dads in St. Louis,
and Mr. Keltner discovered that fathers, as well as boys, had a
keen interest in the traditions of the Native American . At the
same time, being greatly influenced by the work of Ernest Thompson
Seton, a great lover of the outdoors, Harold Keltner conceived the
idea of a father-son program based upon the strong qualities of
Native American Culture: life-dignity, respect for self & others,
patience, endurance, spirituality, feelings for the earth and concern
for family. Thus, the Y-Indian Guide program was born over 75 years
ago.
The rise of the YMCA following WWII, the genuine need for supporting
little girls in their personal growth, and the success demonstrated
by the father-son program helped to nurture the development of the
Y-Indian Princess program in the Fresno YMCA of California in 1954.
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